Pre-paid accounts are a popular way to provide communication services including mobile phone usage, long distance calling usage, electronic wallet usage, and the like. With pre-paid accounts, the funds to cover the communication services are placed into an account in advance of the communication services being provided. Upon use of the communication services, the funds are drawn from the account. Upon the account reaching zero, the communication services are no longer available to the user.
Pre-paid accounts may be useful to service providers and users for various reasons. Individuals with credit issues may find it easier to obtain pre-paid services than post-paid services. Service providers may find it beneficial because the risk of not collecting on services that have been provided is essentially eliminated. Parents and employers may especially benefit from pre-paid accounts for communication services being used by their children and employees, respectively, since the risk of the user exceeding a permitted amount of usage is also essentially eliminated.
While pre-paid accounts have many benefits, one drawback is that a potentially burdensome amount of effort is required to replenish the account. Often, the user receives a notice that the amount of usage has reached or is about to reach zero. Where the user is not the entity with the authority to refresh the account, as in the case of children and employees, the user must contact the entity in control to request the refresh. This contact may be through the pre-paid service which further drains the pre-paid account. The entity in control must then contact a pre-paid platform, typically through an interactive voice response system (IVR), to request that the refresh be done. This is an inconvenience to both the user and the entity in control, as the entity in control must be available for contact from the user and the entity in control must make the effort to initiate contact with the pre-paid platform.